English Prof Awarded $25K For Fellowship

Assistant professor of English Scott Kaukonen has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts as a recipient of the organization’s 2008 Literature Fellowship in Prose, a $25,000 prize.

Kaukonen was one of 42 writers from across the nation selected for the fellowship out of more than 777 applicants.

“It's money to allow you to write. In my case, it'll allow me to take the summer off from teaching and focus solely on my writing, which is, quite frankly, invaluable,” he said. “I'm currently finishing a novel, and so I'll likely be involved in revisions over the summer and/or starting a new project.”

Kaukonen said the award is significant not only because of the money involved but because it’s a highly-competitive fellowship that is ultimately decided upon by a jury of peers.

“There's a select group of established writers who read through all the anonymous manuscripts and whittle them down and then spend a weekend in (Washington) D.C. in a hotel conference room, reviewing the finalists and discussing the work and making the decisions,” he said.

For his application, Kaukonen submitted his short stort story, "Punnett's Squares," from his collection of stories, “Ordination.” "Punnett's Squares" won the 2004 Nelson Algren Prize from The Chicago Tribune, while the collection won the 2004 Ohio State Prize for Short Fiction.

“From a personal standpoint, it's the kind of external validation that balances the, it seems, inevitable insecurities that can surround your own work as a writer--all that time you spend alone, writing, creating, doubting, battling your own fears, hoping your work is doing what you intend for it to do,” he said.

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SHSU Media Contact: Jennifer Gauntt
Dec. 7, 2007
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